C249,
Star is a one design class, ok. Robert Scheidt developed a boat designed by Juan K and Lilia Boats from Italy for the next Olympics. I don't think you can do that in a real one design class.
470 is a one design class, ok. I saw in a manufactor site that they developed a new mold, with a new deck and some small stuffs to improve the performance of the boat.
Only Laser/Radial and RSX boats and boards are manufactured by ONLY ONE MANUFACTOR, they supllies the boats and boards for the Olympics, the rest of the classes you can buy the boat from any brand you want to, buy a mast (or masts) from any brand you want to, buy sails from any brand you want to.
One design here is just an idea, but there are some differences from boat to boat, within the limits of the rules. That's what I meant to say.

Yes, C249 is a bit wordy, but it's good information and very relevant to the discussion. ISAF rules and Olympic politics are difficult to overcome, but that doesn't mean that we give up.

We are lucky that windsurfing is an Olympic sailing class. We put our collective heads together and come up with what we think will work best within the class (defining what "works best" is a bit of a challenge), but selling it to the ISAF is the biggest challenge.

It's not likely that future Olympic windsurfing will have a significant impact on the windsurfing world, but it just might.

c249-
I think you are adding a wealth of information to the dialog here regarding sailing ISAF, Olympics, windsurfing and sailing. It is rather a pity that the windsurfers on this forum are too narrow minded to properly understand the relationship between Olympic windsurfing and other Olympic sailing classes.

c249-
I think you are adding a wealth of information to the dialog here regarding sailing ISAF, Olympics, windsurfing and sailing. It is rather a pity that the windsurfers on this forum are too narrow minded to properly understand the relationship between Olympic windsurfing and other Olympic sailing classes.

We understand, it's just that 50% of what he wrote has nothing to do with windsurfing,
and I got a feeling he's not too familiar with FW format to criticize it,
providing bulk data and then trying to somehow connect the dots based on surfacey relevance is just weird

The problem with windsurfing at the Olympic's seems to be that it is a sailing class and so it is tied up in all that sailing stuff that those yacht club tosser's carry on about. How about they just call it the 'Stand Up Mini-Laser' yachting class and use a 1981 design board for the next 40 years so. The yacht club tosser's will be happy and windsurfers will no longer be embarrassed by the Olympic's.

Yes, the only way a small sport can be in the Games (an event that big sports like baseball, rugby, racquetball/squash and golf cannot get into or stay in) is as a part of sailing. But if we are right and they are tossers, why do they attract so many more sailors, racers, and kids?

The 2-time national FW champ in SQ's country (top 12 in the world) and the #1 slalom sailor in his area (if I have him identified correctly) have both publicly said that they have reservations about the FOD concept. Are they "yacht club tossers" or ignorant?

Yes, Sergio, I haven't raced FW or RSX but I have raced most of the recent Olympic classes (from yachts and cats to boards). From that perspective - and from being at the worlds last time there was (briefly) an open olympic windsurfing class- it's hard to see why windsurfers are so different, and so special that they will not have similar issues. Olympians in boards, like Olympians in boats, chose to buy gear from small specialist builders, rather than gear built to the same rules by big builders for the wider market.

No one is saying FW is not a fantastic class. It is. That's part of the point - why not have a reasoned discussion about whether a fantastic class could get hurt by becoming Olympic, just like other classes?

For sure, I would like to have Slalom or Freestyle or wavesailing in Olympics, but say, its more complicated to find good conditions to have this kind of choices than FW or RSX boards. I think its worse to say that windsurfing had no results because of lack of wind.

Also, I think there is no slalom in all countries, no freestyle and no wavesailing in all countries. I think FW or FE (Formula type racing) maybe have more countries racing and maybe the tendency goes that way in this years.

this olympics are a humiliation to windsurfing, Lets be inclusive here; the sport consists of wave, slalom, FW(FE), BAFing(Gorge or pond), Freestyle and Open class (mainly old longboards that rail), and going windsurfing, yep, plain old windsurfing noncompetitively, none of which is represented at "The Games". How much farther out in left field do things need to get. Truely useless crap. To do the noble and proper thing would be to give the medals to the kiters, or a paralympic event. At least they would support and get amped about a close representtion of their best. Failing that if windsurfing stays in the olympics don't invent a solution, use the current pinnacle class, Formula, or the most popular OPEN, or the next competitive contraption and treat it as just another counter race. I'll be tuning into the race walking (for a laugh), or syncronized swimming (for the flexability) before I'd watch RSX. The olympics is money begging participants, wooed by empire building bureaucrats on the take of a corporation (or the next* corporation) and solicitors. Better bring something more than gutsy competition to the table once those are the main parameters of the the event.
No wind + weeds, welcome to windsurfing in China. Love the food and the people but no one can really take this event serious. It's a joke at so many levels.

There are several sports in the Olympics that many would consider "a joke". On the other hand, the athletes that will be competing in those "joke" events have been busting their butts for years to have the opportunity to match their skills against the best in the world in their event. You may not want to watch the RSX, but I see no reason why windsurfing in any format or class should be eliminated from the Olympics because of your or anyone's lack of interest.